July 2016

I have always considered myself an artist and have stuck up for freedom of expression. Especially my own! My fourth-grade teacher sent me to the principal’s office for mulishly refusing to draw a horse’s ears the way she directed.

I’m sitting at my patio table with my cup of coffee early Saturday morning, trying to get focused on my publisher’s letter. My editor’s threats echo distantly—she wants me to write something about the arts. But my mind is buzzing around like the hummingbird that’s hovering three feet away, staring at me as my wife works her magic with flowers…

More than 75 people turned out for the Western Slope’s first Go AuTism Family Fun Walk in May. Highlighting the healing effects of horses, movement, nature and a supportive community to help kids with autism and veterans with PTSD, the event was at Smiling Goat Ranch. Photos by Katie Hankinson.

A unique collaborative effort between Fat City Farmers, Pediatric Partners, Mountain Family Health Centers (MFHC) and the Sustainable Foodsheds class at Colorado Mountain College (CMC) has resulted in a new vegetable garden growing on the MFHC grounds in Glenwood Springs. Dr. Becca Percy called on Fat City Farmers for suggestions on how to introduce her young patients to more vegetables.…

After more than five years, the City of Glenwood Springs is reviving the town’s annual Fourth of July Celebration. “It's such a beautiful sight, and I love the community aspect of it,” said Glenwood Springs resident Kimberly Hendrie, who has lived here nearly 20 years. “It brings back childhood memories of getting the extended family together for fireworks, with a…

Maciej Mrotek recalls mopping up after a structural fire as an 18-year old firefighter. While on the hose, dousing flames, his headlamp kept going in and out. A fellow firefighter was chopping at the ceiling ahead. Each time Mrotek’s failing lamp gave way to darkness “the embers were a falling shower. It was gorgeous.”

As the Brits say, “Look sharp as you enter the roundabout.” And you will—the curves in Terry Lee’s Roundabout are so sharp you could almost cut yourself! As shown in the detail at the left, the boundaries between contrasting shades of orange and blue, green and purple in this complex composition of circles and diagonals are so intense they throb…

Pulling up to the home of sculptor Jes Sanderford, there’s an immediate sense of the unusual. It’s not just the oil drums of sand along a daunting dirt road that hint at fringe living. It’s not the massive, breathtaking view of Mt. Sopris in your lap. It’s the totality of it all.

"Don't be hard on yourself, it takes you out of character." That’s Lon Winston’s advice to an actor in Rashomon, the last production of Thunder River Theatre’s 2015-16 season. It’s also the theater’s last season with Winston at its helm.

I encourage you to be creative, design your own unique flavors and try them out on your friends! Homemade barbecue sauces make great gifts. Always store your sauce in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Most sauces have a great shelf life, but sauces flavored with fresh fruits should be used within one week.

Mix one part community bonding, one part environmental awareness, three parts “exercise”, some costumes, hilarity, add a dash of junk food for good measure—and what do you get? If that recipe sounds too good to be true, it isn’t. Combine all ingredients, bake on a hot day in July and you’ll get one of the wackiest events to ever grace…

A few years ago, in a very different season, I went to a Christmas caroling party where many people had highfalutin jobs. They were numbers people. Something I most certainly was not. They'd saved lives, designed buildings. They were from further flung places, big cities. Their children spoke several languages and giggled at their own striking accomplishments.